


Avatar: The Banished Prince.

by RedArone72



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:07:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24906589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedArone72/pseuds/RedArone72
Summary: Air, Water, Earth, Fire.Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished.A hundred years passed and my nephew Zuko, exiled from the Fire Nation until he captures the missing Avatar, discovers he is the Avatar. Only Zuko, as Fire Lord and Avatar, can bring balance to the world.Although he has yet to realize how to handle this awesome responsibility, I believe Zuko can save the world.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	1. The Banished Prince

气  
BOOK ONE: AIR  
CHAPTER ONE: THE BANISHED PRINCE

Prince Zuko, one of Fire Lord Ozai’s twin heirs, the rightful heir to the throne, had been banished for three years now. When he was 11 he went to a war meeting with his Uncle and disgraced his father. In response his father forced him to duel and when he refused, he was branded as a coward with a scar gracing the left side of his face. Permanently. Prince Zuko scowled as he had been at sea for three years and had not yet spotted a glimpse of the Avatar. According to his father if he managed to capture the Avatar once and for all he would be able to return home a hero, and be exonerated of his exile.

Prince Zuko had just searched the Eastern Air Temple for clues on the whereabouts of the Avatar. He sailed away, towards the Southern Air Temple. He had been given a ship commanded by his distinguished Uncle, General Iroh, the Great Dragon of the West who treated it as a mere vacation. Meanwhile the crew was made up of exiles as well. Lowlife thieves and cowards and a lazy old man. This is not the life of a prince, Zuko thought. 

Zuko groaned and yelled up to the bridge. “Can’t this thing go any faster?!” The captain meekly responded “No Prince Zuko, we’re doing the best we can!” The Prince scowled and paced across the deck. “You know Prince Zuko, you need to relax,” his uncle said, almost yawning. “Would you like some Jasmine Tea? Or perhaps a game of Pai Sho?” “I don’t have time for your games old man! I’ve scoured the globe for the Avatar for three years and what do I have to show for it?!The weight you’ve gained? The rust and barnacles on the bottom of this pathetic ship?!”

“Nephew, you must relax. Your have a deep rage within you, a rage that fuels the fire inside of your soul and the fire you bend. However, if this fire gets out of control, it will burn you from the inside out.” Zuko hated his Uncle’s overly complicated metaphors on life and how he should live it. “I don’t have time to relax! I can do that when I’ve captured the Avatar and have returned to the to the Royal palace!” Iroh sighed. His nephew was hotheaded and determined to accomplish this unfathomable goal. 

The Avatar had disappeared 100 years ago, even if he was alive he would surely have mastered the four elements and dramatically outclass Zuko, or he had died and the Avatar was reincarnated as an unknown citizen of one of the Water Tribes or the Earth Kingdom. Either way Zuko was on a fool’s errand. His father had truly banished Prince Zuko for life, however he gave the boy false hope to make his exile unbearable.

“Uncle, come with me! I think I know how to get this ship moving.” Zuko shouted. The pair of royals walked to the back of the boat and Iroh remarked “What’s your plan? The only way to make this boat move any faster would be to waterbend it.” “Or,” Zuko said with a smirk, “to firebend it.” Zuko squatted down and got into a firebending position. He breathed, absorbing the small fragments of heat in the arctic air, preparing to shoot a flame out of his fist that would propel the boat foward. He sent his fist through the air and to his horror no fire came out. 

Rather than a raging inferno release from the banished prince’s fist, a gust of wind was released as if he had pushed the air itself. Zuko got down on his knees and stared at his hands. He bent fire. He only bent fire. For his entire life, disregarding his infancy when it was believed he was a non bender due to Azula showing such an aptitude from such a young age while Zuko struggled to produce a spark until he was three years old, but this changed everything. If Zuko could bend fire and air, he realized what that meant. He could bend all four elements. He was the Avatar.

Uncle Iroh looked at his nephew, struggling to keep his reserved nature. He realized what his nephew had realized: the Avatar they had searched for the past three years, that the world searched for the past hundred years, was Prince Zuko. Iroh Made sure no one saw the young Prince’s display of airbending and then saw something he hadn’t seen since the boy’s father dueled and scarred him: Prince Zuko was crying. 

He was scared and confused, with a million thoughts running through his head Should I turn myself into my father? What would he say? What would he do? A cry of anguish was released from the newly discovered Avatar’s mouth as his eyes and scar glowed blue. The wind increased a hundred fold and the sky turned dark. Prince Zuko was enveloped in a storm cloud and the first mate was ringing a bell and shouting: “Everyone below deck! Cyclone! Everyone, come quick!”

Zuko rose into the air, still in his kneeling position as lighting emanated from his fingertips. The worst storm Iroh had seen in his entire life was ravaging the small battleship, thousands of miles away from dry land. Rain poured down like the sky itself was crying out and gusts of wind almost capsized the mighty ship. The sky was as dark as the night, covered in clouds, and waves rose as high as mountains. Zuko was filled with anger, grief, sadness, confusion and so many more emotions all at once. It overwhelmed him.

Iroh struggled to walk towards the royal Avatar while all across the world, temples of the four nations began lighting up with the same blue glue emanating from Prince Zuko. The sages of the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation and the Water Tribes all came to the same conclusion: the Avatar had returned. As news was sent to the respective leaders of the three nations, Iroh yelled out to Zuko. “Prince Zuko! Nephew, don’t do this! You’ll destroy the ship! You’ll kill the crew, you’ll kill me! Please stop, we can talk about this!” A bolt of lighting hit Iroh however the Great Dragon of the West redirected it using his own technique and cried out for his nephew. “Zuko! Snap out of it!”

Upon realizing he could’ve killed his Uncle, the blue glow emanating from Zuko evaporated the the storm he had caused left as soon as it arrived. The prince of the Fire Nation fell into the arms of his Uncle, who brought him below decks and tucked him into his bed. He lied to the crew and said that Zuko had fallen overboard during the storm and the yelling was him trying to find him. Iroh sat and drank his tea while watching over his sleeping nephew. He had searched for the Avatar for three years and turned out what he was looking for was inside of him the whole time. Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, banished until he could find the Avatar, the fabled “Last Airbender” was in reality the Avatar.


	2. The Avatar’s Duty

气  
BOOK ONE: AIR  
CHAPTER TWO: THE AVATAR’S DUTY

Prince Zuko awoke in a cold sweat in his quarters. He looked around and was shocked to see his Uncle sitting on his floor and enjoying a cup of piping hot tea. “Uncle...” he seek meekly, “I had the strangest dream. I was the Avatar and... and I almost killed you.” Iroh sighed and put down his cup of tea. 

“Prince Zuko, this will come as a shock to you but that was no dream. You are the Avatar. The fabled last airbender we have searched for must have died, as well as the Water and Earth Avatars. Yesterday not only did you bend air, but in your rage you accessed the Avatar State and bent air, water and even lighting at the same time.” 

Zuko couldn’t believe what his uncle was saying. He looked down at his hand, and pushed the air in front of him, blowing the covers off of his bed. “It wasn’t a dream... Uncle, what should I do? What should I tell father? Does the crew know?” “No one knows except for you and I however, by accessing the Avatar State, sacred shrines to the Avatar across the word have glowed from their eyes, alerting the world to the Avatar’s return. As for what you should do, it is the Avatar’s duty to master the four elements, and keep balance between the four nations and the worlds of the humans and the spirits.”

Uncle grabbed a piece of parchment and a turtle duck feather quill and illustrated the symbols of the Air, Water, Earth and Fire. “The Avatar Cycle is Air, Water, Earth and Fire. This is the order the Avatar is reincarnated in and the order they learn the elements. Now the Avatar-“ “But Uncle, I already know fire bending! How can I finish with it?” Zuko said, interrupting his earnest Uncle. “Well Prince Zuko if you hadn’t interrupted, I would have finished saying that the Avatar is expected to master the element of their homeland before the others. In your case you shall have to start learning air bending.”

Zuko’s brow furrowed. “Uncle, in case you’ve forgotten Fire Lord Sozin, your grandfather, wiped out the Air Nomads and the last airbender perished long ago! How will I learn air bending, let alone master it?!” Iroh rubbed his temples and explained that “While it is true that learning air bending will be significantly harder for you, there are a few ways to learn without a master. We will need ancient air bending scrolls that detail the movements of their bending form and, if we are lucky, we may be able to find a Sky Bison, the original airbender.”

While Uncle Iroh explained to Zuko his ideas on how to teach his nephew air bending, Commander Zhao of the Fire Nation navy walked into the throne room of the Fire Lord. He knelt down and payed homage to his monarch. “Fire Lord Ozai, I am honored to have been summoned here. How may I serve you?” Fire Lord Ozai wasted no time and explained to his Commander that “The Fire Sages of Crescent Island have made it known to me that the Avatar has returned. This could change the outcome of the war and the change we’ve fought so hard for.” Intimidated by his Fire Lord, Zhao still managed to ask “What about Prince Zuko’s search for the Avatar?” 

The flames surrounding the Fire Lord’s throne grew in his rage. “My son betrayed our nation and was sent on a fool’s errand in order to slowly break his spirit and redirect his anger from me to the Avatar. If he finds the Avatar, he will be killed. While you are only a commander, I cannot dispose of my current admirals at the moment. Zhao, you shall be appointed admiral and I would like you to personally lead the search for the Avatar and capture him with any means necessary, even if it means my son gets caught in the crossfire. Do you understand?” A smirk grew across the newly ordained admiral’s face. “I understand perfectly Fire Lord Ozai. This is the greatest honor I could ever hope to achieve, I will begin my search at once.” With that Admiral Zhao left the throne room to prepare for his journey.

Iroh had spent the past hour explaining to Zuko that they will teach him air bending by using ancient scrolls, going to the four Air Temples and if they are lucky encountering a Flying Bison. Then when Iroh said that “You can even commune with your past lives.” Zuko balked. “How in the world am I supposed to do that?” “The Avatar has mastered the elements a thousand times and will continue a thousand more. You will have to be able to contact your past lives in order to master air bending. Wait here, I made you something to help with that.”

Iroh scurried off into his quarters as Zuko lied back down and thought about his destiny. He was the Prince of the Fire Nation, who wanted to spread their prosperity with the world and unify it under the Fire Lord yet the Avatar was supposed to keep the balance between the four nations. He also couldn’t understand how he could separate his duties as Fire Lord with his duties as the Avatar. He sighed as Uncle came back into the room.

“I made this for you Nephew.” Iroh was holding a crude necklace with four wooden circles, etched with symbols of the four elements attached to it. “What is that?” Zuko said, scowling at the sight of this gift. “This necklace is based off of the one worn by Avatar Yangchen of the Air Nomads which helped her contact her past lives, I hope it will do the same for you.” Zuko reluctantly put the necklace on, then put his armor on over it.

“Prince Zuko, after my son Lu Ten died,” Iroh said, holding back tears, “I journeyed to the world of the spirits in a search for closure. However, I could not find him and departed. When I departed I left, not with grief filling my heart but enlightenment filling my soul. As the Avatar you shall have to attain this sort of enlightenment in order to keep the balance between the worlds of the humans and the spirits. Now wash up, it’s time for dinner and after that it’s music night! I’ve been practicing my tsunji horn!”

Zuko sighed as his uncle left and he put his boots on, puzzling over his role in the world. He stared wistfully at a family portrait, looking directly into his mother’s eyes. If she was here, what would she say? All Zuko knew was that if he wanted to earn his father’s respect, he would have to master the four elements and become the most powerful Fire Lord to ever live.


End file.
